“Of course they are still interested in Coutinho, they’ve got everything sorted with the player”

Guillem Balague

“But remember that’s what he said, he’s not saying ‘we’re going to go for Coutinho’. Are they interested? Of course they are.

“If you look at Barcelona, and it will become more and more obvious in the next few games against Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Sevilla, you’ll realise Barcelona still need two or three top players.

“A (Marco) Verratti, another (Andres) Iniesta, that kind of player, and a Coutinho.

“So of course they are still interested in Coutinho, they’ve got everything sorted with the player, we’ve all known that for months but will they convince Liverpool? That’s the question mark.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen in January, I don’t think they’ve got intention of making it in January.

“The words of Oscar Grau were ‘if we had to pay for him, we’ve got the money for him’.”

Earlier this week Coutinho was included on the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d’Or alongside team-mate Sadio Mane.

Liverpool return to Premier League action on Saturday lunchtime against Manchester United at Anfield.